The Register

If the first patches don't work, try, try again

VMware has pushed a second patch for a critical, heap-overflow bug in the vCenter Server that could allow a remote attacker to fully compromise vulnerable systems after the first software update, issued last month, didn't work.…

Unisys, Avaya, Check Point, and Mimecast settled with the agency without admitting or denying wrongdoing

Four high-profile tech companies reached an agreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission to pay millions of dollars in penalties for misleading investors about their exposure to the 2020 SolarWinds hack.…

Crooks revert to old ways for greater efficiency

Experts believe the Akira ransomware operation is up to its old tricks again, encrypting victims' files after a break from the typical double extortion tactics.…

Miscreants combine it with an equally tricky piece of social engineering

The Ghostpulse malware strain now retrieves its main payload via a PNG image file's pixels. This development, security experts say, is "one of the most significant changes" made by the crooks behind it since launching in 2023.…

Note to Xi: Marco and Ted Cruz aren't the same person

China's Spamouflage disinformation crew has been targeting US Senator Marco Rubio (R-Florida) with its fake news campaigns over the past couple of months, trolling the Republican lawmaker's official X account and posting negative stories about Rubio on Reddit and Medium.…

Private equity giant Thoma Bravo adds another trophy to its growing collection

British security biz Sophos has announced a plan to gobble up competitor Secureworks in an $859 million deal that will make Dell happy.…

Dan O'Dowd tells El Reg about the OS secrets and ongoing clash with Musk

Interview  This month, presidential hopeful Donald Trump got a tool in his arsenal, some allegedly "unhackable" communications kit, and The Register has talked to the man behind the operating system, who also ran for the US Senate on a campaign to get self-driving Teslas off the road and is on something of a crusade about the matter.…

Like keeping your camera and microphone private? Patch up

In revealing details about a vulnerability that threatens the privacy of Apple fans, Microsoft urges all macOS users to update their systems.…

As TSMC defends itself against report it may have helped Huawei

Tesla has denied it was involved in illegal-map making activities in China after Beijing asserted an unnamed foreign firm working on a smart car project had done so – and even stolen state secrets – through a collaboration with a local business.…

Org turns its woes into a fundraising opportunity

Despite the Internet Archive's assurances it's back on its feet after a recent infosec incident, the org still appears to be in trouble after parties unknown claimed to hold access tokens to its Zendesk implementation and to have used them to send a mass email blast.…

The static analyzer uses Claude AI to identify vulns and suggest exploit code

Researchers with Seattle-based Protect AI plan to release a free, open source tool that can find zero-day vulnerabilities in Python codebases with the help of Anthropic's Claude AI model.…

Also, new EU cyber reporting rules are live, exploiters hit the gas pedal, free PDNS for UK schools, and more

in brief  A critical security update for the near-ubiquitous WordPress plugin Jetpack was released last week. Site administrators should ensure the latest version is installed to keep their sites secure. …

SIM swappers strike again, warping cryptocurrency prices

An Alabama man faces five years in prison for allegedly attempting to manipulate the price of Bitcoin by pwning the US Securities and Exchange Commission's X account earlier this year.…

Says 'limited' incident isolated to 'partner company'

ESET denies being compromised after an infosec researcher highlighted a wiper campaign that appeared to victims as if it was launched using the Slovak security shop's infrastructure.…

Chipzilla uses WeChat post to defend record of following local laws

Intel has roundly rebutted Chinese accusations that its chips include security backdoors at the direction of the US National Security Agency (NSA).…

'My webcam isn't working today' is the new 'The dog ate my network'

It's a pattern cropping up more and more frequently: a company fills an IT contractor post, not realizing it's mistakenly hired a North Korean operative. The phony worker almost immediately begins exfiltrating sensitive data, before being fired for poor performance. Then the six-figure ransom demands – accompanied by proof of the stolen files – start appearing.…

Propaganda op focuses on anti-West narratives to meddle with elections

The US has placed a $10 million bounty on Russian media network Rybar and a number of its key staffers following alleged attempts to sway the upcoming US presidential election.…

Globe Life claims blackmailers shared stolen into with short sellers

US insurance provider Globe Life, already grappling with legal troubles, now faces a fresh headache: an extortion attempt involving stolen customer data.…

Early stage opsec failures lead to landmark arrest of suspected serial data thief

Brazilian police are being cagey with the details about the arrest of a person suspected to be responsible for various high-profile data thefts.…

No attacks possible, but enough issues to cause concern

Messaging giant WeChat uses a network protocol that the app's developers modified – and by doing so introduced security weaknesses, researchers claim.…